1 T hen Job answered,

2 N o doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!

3 B ut I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these ?

4 I am become one who is a laughingstock to his friend; I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him—a just, upright (blameless) man—laughed to scorn!

5 I n the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune—but it is ready for those whose feet slip.

6 T he dwellings of robbers prosper; those who provoke God are secure; God supplies them abundantly.

7 F or ask now the animals, and they will teach you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

8 O r speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

9 W ho not to recognize in all these that it is God’s hand which does it ?

10 I n His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

11 I s it not the task of the ear to discriminate between words, just as the mouth distinguishes food?

12 W ith the aged is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding.

13 B ut with are wisdom and might; He has counsel and understanding.

14 B ehold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open.

15 H e withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth, and they overwhelm the land or transform it.

16 W ith Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His.

17 H e leads counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools.

18 H e looses the fetters by kings and has waistcloth bound about their loins.

19 H e leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns.

20 H e deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged.

21 H e pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.

22 H e uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death.

23 H e makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations, and leads them.

24 H e takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the land and of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.

25 T hey grope in the dark without light, and He makes them to stagger and wander like a drunken man.